State of Solar 2024: The Year in Solar Power and the Outlook for a Cleaner Future

In 2024, the rise of solar energy is surpassing expectations — even those of its biggest advocates. “In a single year, in a single technology, we’re providing as much new electricity as the entirety of global growth the year before,” Kingsmill Bond, a senior energy strategist at the zero-carbon-energy nonprofit RMI, told The Atlantic earlier this year.

Bond added that analysts a decade or two ago “did not imagine in their wildest dreams that solar by the middle of the 2020s would already be supplying all of the growth of global electricity demand.”

Gregory Nemet, author of How Solar Energy Became Cheap, told Vox that solar energy “does continue to surprise us,” even though it probably shouldn’t at this point. “It’s been roughly 30 percent growth each year for 30 years,” Nemet said. “And costs continue to fall, so new users — and new uses — continue to emerge.”

And Euan Graham, electricity and data analyst at the global energy think tank Ember, told the site, “When you look at the absolute numbers that we’re on track for this year and that we installed last year, it is completely sort of mind-blowing.”

Here are the milestones solar energy reached this year — and what the outlook is for the years ahead.

By July, the world was on track to add 593 gigawatts of solar power in 2024.

In mid-September, Ember released an analysis of data for January through July, showing that the world was on track to add 593 gigawatts (GW) of solar installations by the end of 2024, 29% soaring higher than even 2023’s record total. And that 593 GW projection is 200 GW more than what the International Energy Agency and Wood Mackenzie predicted for 2024, as Yale Environment 360 reports.

Furthermore, Vox notes that 593 GW is also more than one-quarter of the electricity produced by all the world’s operating coal plants. Compare that to 2020 when the world only had a cumulative total capacity of 760 GW of solar installed.

‍Global solar capacity reached 2 terawatts.

In November, the Global Solar Council relayed to Reuters that global solar capacity had reached 2 terawatts (TW), enough to power around 92 million U.S. homes. What’s more, the world added more solar capacity in the prior two years than it had in the previous 68 years combined.

‍Solar will have provided the world with 6% of its electricity this year.

In June, The Economist reported that solar power will provide the world with around 6% of global electricity in 2024.

It’s worth highlighting the Netherlands as a leader in this growth. Although the Netherlands experiences significantly less sunlight than its neighbors, it generates far more solar energy per capita than any other European country. In fact, only one country in the world generates more solar energy per capita: Australia.

As a result of the Netherlands’ commitment to renewable energy, coal power generation fell by nearly 40% in 2024. For the first time in the country’s history, renewable sources produced more electricity than fossil fuels during the first six months of the year and accounted for 53% of the Netherlands’ total electricity. The country is aiming for a 55% greenhouse-gas reduction by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, with a goal of reaching net-zero emissions in 2050.

The U.S. added a record amount of solar capacity and solar module capacity in Q3 2024

This month, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) proclaimed that the United States added 8.6 gigawatts-direct current (GWdc) of solar capacity in 2024’s third quarter in yet another record-breaking quarterly volume and a 21% increase over Q3 2042. In a press release this month, SEIA said the U.S. had also added 9.3 GW of new solar module manufacturing capacity.

“Federal solar policies and increased private investments are strengthening our nation’s energy security and creating thousands of new job opportunities for American workers,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.

‍Solar accounted for nearly two thirds of the United States’ new energy-generating capacity in 2024.

SEIA also announced that solar accounted for 64% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the U.S. grid through 2024’s third quarter — and that the country was producing enough solar energy annually to power more than 37 million homes.

“The United States is stepping up to take market share from foreign competitors and making sure that the jobs and economic growth from solar are benefiting American communities,” Hopper added.

Community Solar has quintupled since 2018.

As it announced an expansion of the National Community Solar Partnership in September, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy touted that U.S. Community Solar capacity had quintupled from 1.5 GW at the end of 2018 to more than 7.8 GW this year. By Q3, the Community Solar industry had installed 291 megawatts-direct current (MWdc), a 12% increase year over year.

‍Commercial-scale solar installations increased year over year.

Per SEIA, the United States’ commercial solar segment installed 535 MWdc in Q3 2024, marking a 44% increase year-over-year.  

While utility-scale solar also experienced significant growth in 2024, it’s commercial-scale systems, like the ones owned and operated by Altus Power, that have the potential to help solve some of our most pressing power problems.

“Retail electricity prices have risen consistently over the years, largely due to an aging grid that requires constant upgrading. This trend has not only strained consumer budgets, but it has also underscored the urgent need for new, sustainable sources of power. Solar plays a key role here,” remarks Altus Power CEO Gregg Felton. “Unlike traditional utility-scale systems, our approach is focused on commercial-scale, or distributed, solar. This means we build facilities where power is most needed, such as on large rooftops of warehouses, municipal buildings and other high demand areas. This proximity reduces reliance on long-distance transmission, lowers costs and benefits the local community.”

U.S. clean energy and transportation investments hit a record high.

A Rhodium Group report in November shared that the United States’ clean energy and transportation investment had reached a record $71 billion in Q3 2024, continuing a nearly unbroken three-year trend of quarterly growth. Plus, the report added, clean investment comprised 5% of U.S. private investments in structures, equipment, and durable consumer goods in the country.

Solar module prices continue to decline.

According to BloombergNEF and InfoLink data shared by Inside Climate News in June, the average global price of solar modules fell from $0.22/watt in March 2020 to $0.11/watt in February 2024. In that same time frame, the average U.S. price of solar modules fell from $0.41/watt to $0.31/watt.

That same month, Our World in Data reported that solar photovoltaic (PV) costs have fallen by 90% across the last decade, dropping around 20% every time the global cumulative capacity doubles. Our World in Data observed that for many countries, solar power has gone from being one of the most expensive electricity sources to the cheapest.

Altus Power’s portfolio surpassed 1 gigawatt.

In terms of Altus Power’s year, the company announced in October that its portfolio of assets had topped 1 gigawatt. Even before the 1GW milestone, Altus ranked as the largest commercial-scale provider of clean electric power, with more than 500 projects across 25 states and approximately 30,000 Community Solar subscribers across 9 states.

“Altus Power has built a U.S. portfolio of scale, making us the leader in the transition to clean, electric power for enterprises and households nationwide,” said Altus Power CEO Gregg Felton.

What to expect from solar energy in 2025 and beyond...

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported in June that global energy demand was set to increase by around 4% in 2024 and by another 4% in 2025 in what would be the highest annual growth rate since 2007. But renewable energy sources are also on the rise, expected to grow from 30% of the global electricity supply in 2023 to 35% of the supply in 2025, IEA added.

Solar photovoltaics are expected to meet around half of the increase in global electricity demand over 2024 and 2025, and solar and wind together are expected to meet as much as 75% of the growth, according to the IEA report.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in January 2024 that solar is expected to supply “almost all” growth in U.S. electricity generation through 2025 as hydropower and natural gas make smaller gains and coal’s share shrinks.

Wood Mackenzie reported in September that worldwide solar PV capacity is expected to quadruple to 6.3 terawatts-direct current in the next decade. The Economist, meanwhile, observed that the world’s installed solar capacity doubles about every three years and increases tenfold every decade, and that “the next tenfold increase will be equivalent to multiplying the world’s entire fleet of nuclear reactors by eight in less than the time it typically takes to build just a single one of them.”

In its 2024 World Energy Outlook, the IEA cited data models indicating that solar PV would surpass coal and gas to become the world’s main source of electricity by 2035. (One data model cited by RMI has solar and wind generation overtaking fossil fuel supply as early as 2030.)

And the cost of solar will continue to drop. In a recent press release, RMI said that what is already the cheapest form of electricity will fall from its current price of more than $40/megawatt-hour to as low as $20/megawatt-hour by 2030.

All told, it seems the sun is shining brightly on solar, literally and figuratively, and Altus Power is helping to power the clean energy transition. Learn more about Altus Power’s Community Solar and Commercial Solar to see how we connect clean electric energy to households and businesses across the United States.